3KEYMASTER™, WSC’s flagship simulation software, is as flexible as it is powerful. Fueled by world-class integration capabilities, 3KEYMASTER™ can assimilate and run any high-end engineering code in the feature-rich visualization environment 3KEYMASTER™ is known for.

Primary Thermal Hydraulics

INL RELAP5-3D

3KEYRELAP5 is an interface-programming layer developed by WSC to enable communication between DOE Idaho National Laboratory’s RELAP5-3D and WSC’s 3KEYMASTER™ real-time simulation software.

3KEYRELAP5 employs the power of visualization through engineering tools, all without interfering with the computational aspects of RELAP5. As part of the 3KEYMASTER™ family of software products, 3KEYRELAP5 provides seamless integration with other 3KEYMASTER™ tools: including FlowBase, Logic and Control, and Electrical tools.

3KEYRELAP5 consists of a set of applications designed to simplify the process of thermal-hydraulic engineering analysis using RELAP5 code, including:

Visual Toolbar, which consists of visual representations of RELAP5 components.

Visual Builder, which generates existing input deck components for RELAP5 in 3KEYMASTER™ memory and as well as the visualization of the components through the Visual Toolbar.

Input Deck Convertor, which allows a user to regenerate an input deck from a binary to text form and to see the differences between two binary input decks. It employs powerful capabilities to compare the differences in input deck nodalization visually.

RELAP5 visual interface that allows the user to have visual representation of the interfaces between RELAP5 and other tools within 3KEYMASTER™.

KAERI MARS

3KEYMARS fills a role similar to 3KEYRELAP5, enabling data and control communications between MARS and 3KEYMASTER™. Korea Advanced Energy Research Institute (KAERI) conceived and started the development of MARS code with the main objective of producing a state-of-the-art realistic thermal hydraulic systems analysis code with multi-dimensional analysis capability. MARS achieves this objective by very tightly integrating the one dimensional RELAP5/MOD3 with the multi-dimensional COBRA-TF codes. The end result is an engineering-grade simulation code that is fully integrated with 3KEYMASTER™.

Core Neutronics: NESTLE

NESTLE is a true two-energy group neutronics code, developed by Idaho National Laboratory, that computes the neutron flux and power for each node at every time step. It provides this output by performing nodal diffusion calculations while assuming constant thermal-hydraulic conditions over the duration of the time step. The diffusion equations are solved in full two-group form using the nodal expansion method with a nonlinear iterative solution scheme. Control rods may be modeled individually or as groups, and may be of either partial or full length insertion.

Since the chilling accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident in Japan, the interest in investigating plant behavior and the importance of training nuclear power plant operating staff in Severe Accident scenarios has increased significantly. Newly published papers, such as the NRC Task Force investigation of the Fukushima Dai-ichi Accident, have provided recommendations on strengthening and integrating nuclear plant emergency response capabilities.

Given that the safe operation of nuclear power plants is one of our top priorities, WSC has expanded its capabilities in real-time simulation and engineering analysis by embedding the MELCOR severe accident analysis code, developed by Sandia National Laboratory, into 3KEYMASTER™. MELCOR models the progression of severe accidents in light-water reactors in a fully integrated, engineering-level computer code. A wide range of severe accident phenomena in both boiling and pressurized water reactors is processed through MELCOR in a unified framework.